I sat there and looked at him wondering how I could help while he’s checking his cell phone.

These 7 killer mistakes attempt to storm into every manager’s life as soon as a person starts to become successful.

“Enough already, what are the killer mistakes?”

The 7 killer mistakes

1. Confuse activity with goals.“I’m too busy to do this,” is a sure fire red flag you’re making this mistake. Activity without a plan cuts you to pieces throughout the day. Align those activities with goals. It’s as simple as that, not easy, but simple.

2. Not aligned with the bigger picture. Of the killer mistakes this killer lures you into a situation where you think you are being effective. Everything is now top priority. It’s a killer situation to be in. Go back and answer that frustratingly simple question, “What do I want?”

3. Too impatient to go through the process. The danger impatience can bring lurks behind a curtain waiting to cut you down when you are least prepared. Patience following a process is a discipline, a skill to become effective. This skill and discipline will help you avoid the dangers lurking and hidden. This is simply personal discipline.

4. Don’t have a process. With no goal setting process you can feel chased through your projects. You constantly second guess your choice of direction and priorities, looking over your shoulders. Feeling something or someone is after you. Turn forward and look to the future. Think long term and short term goals with aligned activities today and get your process in place, asap.

5. Shortcut, jump to conclusions. This killer mistake slices at your effectiveness with a thousand cuts. Telling yourself to tough it out or toughen up doesn’t stop the slices from happening. Shortcuts are not an effective strategy. Stay disciplined through the process. A little work up front will pay dividends and keep you out harms way down the road.

6. Embed fears and history lessons into the process. Nothing like a call from some fear or bad experience to scare the heck out of you. Drumming up fears as if they are relevant or history lessons are a waste of time. Instead, focus on the goal, rewards, real life obstacles and possible solutions.

7. Value activity over effectiveness. This killer mistake can suck the life blood out of you so fast you feel drained. Be intentional about what activities you do. Align them clearly to a well formed goal and the sun will start to shine.

Jacob was long gone, looking over his shoulders at no one in particular, before I finished going through the 7 mistakes. Oh well, maybe next time.

What Clients Say

“After working with Phil, from just one process we cleaned up, we reduced mistakes by 70% and are stacking up cost savings.” —Stan, Construction Business Owner.

“Going through the decision framework helped make a very big decision that was stressing me out. After the decision, I felt a huge sense of relief and our revenue jumped due to better focus.” —Jon, Software Construction Business Owner

“We’ve improved our sales per FTE by 30% once we clarified the gap through the SMART goals and I’m not yet done with Phil’s program!” —Tim, Business Owner

“I recommend that if you want to increase effectiveness, sit down with Phil.” —Michelle, small business owner